Yankees' Damon won't be rushed back

NEW YORK -- Johnny Damon wasn't in the lineup -- or on the active roster -- for today's game, as expected. Though Damon was eligible to come off the disabled list yesterday, the Yankees are being extra careful with his strained shoulder.

"He's coming along great, and it's getting close," GM Brian Cashman said. "We want to make sure we get a couple things on the checklist checked off before we turn him loose."

Damon took batting practice again yesterday, and also began a throwing program, making 20 tosses at 40 feet and 10 tosses at 60 feet. But he said it would be "probably a week" before he could throw well enough to play left field. Hittingwise, Damon is eager to play, though he said he could not have recovered without going on the DL.

"These last couple days are probably the first days where I actually feel that it's ready," Damon said. "There's no way I could have fought through it."

Manager Joe Girardi said Damon might be out until Thursday, when the Yankees have a day off, and he could play in a rehab game with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before rejoining the Yankees for their weekend series in Boston.

Damon, of course, would prefer to play Monday night.

"It's totally up to them now," Damon said. "I'm ready to step in and be productive up here now."

The Yankees cost themselves a run in the first when third-base coach Bobby Meacham waved Alex Rodriguez around to score from second on a single to right by Robinson Cano. Rodriguez was out by several feet to end the inning, the second time in three games Rodriguez has been out at the plate.

Girardi said the trend of runners getting thrown out rounding third isn't a concern for him.

"A lot of times it's with two outs, and those are the times you're going to take the chances," Girardi said.

The Yankees' other play at the plate wasn't without controversy. After Derek Jeter scored from third on a sacrifice fly by Rodriguez in the third inning, A's manager Bob Geren came out to argue that Jeter had left the bag too early.

"From my level, I thought he left early," Geren said. "But I don't get the benefit of a replay and neither does the umpire. I really did think he left early."

Catcher Jorge Posada did not play yesterday, and spent the game icing his right thumb, which he bruised Saturday blocking a ball.

"We'll continue to monitor him every day," Girardi said.

Girardi and Cashman declined to comment on the possibility of Posada, who is increasingly becoming a defensive liability behind the plate, playing more first base.

"That's what we'll discuss internally," Cashman said.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain and former GOP candidate and New York mayor Rudy Giuliani attended yesterday's game, sitting in the front row next to the Yankees dugout.